A New Wedding and an Old Funeral
by BuzyBumblyBee
Summary: The sequel to the rules of being popular. It's three years on since they graduated high school - they are twenty one and Kirsten and Sandy are renewing their vows...
1. History Repeats Itself

Chapter One: Introduction

"I'm Kathryn. I just moved her from New York City."

"I like her."

"Kathryn's a threat."

"Kathryn? What are you doing here?"

"She's probably not only kissing Seth Cohen, but Ryan too."

"She's like Theresa."

"You don't look horrible. You look beautiful."

"Why not? Why am I not allowed to want you?"

"I'm sorry."

"I think I'm falling in love with you."

"Would you just hold me?"

"Who is it? The other girl?"

"Cinderella, I'll never throw you away."

"_Summer has a heart, Summer has a heart._"

"Ryan Ryan Ryan Ryan Ryan."

"Hello, 911."

"Ketamine is a horse tranquilizer."

"Coop? You can't be gone!"

History Repeats Itself

_Knock, knock._

Kathryn got up to answer the door. She wondered who it could be. Probably Aileen, the woman who lived above her apartment, who always needed to borrow things, like rosemary. She opened the door, thinking about what Aileen would want to borrow.

It wasn't Aileen.

"Seth? Seth Cohen? Is that you?"

Seth looked up. She was exactly the same, yet completely different. Her hair was down to just beneath her chest and very curly, whereas before it had been mid-length and straight. She had put on a little weight, and had become curvier and sexier. He could see her underwear poking out of the top of her jeans, still sexy, still awesome. Somehow, she was still the same inside herself. Her voice was still low and husky, her scattering of freckles were still as pink as ever, and whenever she moved, there was still that poetry and grace that could only come from within her.

"Yeah, it's me. Could I come in?"

"Of course...make yourself at home."

She hadn't seen him since the day they had graduated high school, three years ago. Now they were twenty one, he was much more mature, in his way. His face was slightly tanned, his hair still dark and beautifully curly, his eyes still as brown as Starbucks' Hot Chocolate.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but what are you doing here in New York? How did you know where I lived?"

"I got the address from your parents. I hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not."

"I'm actually here because, well this is weird, but my parents are renewing their vows this Christmas, and you were the closest thing they had to a daughter, and my mom was wondering if you would be a...bridesmaid. Summer is going to be her ring bearer, and Ryan will be my dad's. I'm going to be the best man, and Hailey's going to be the Maid of Honour."

"Oh, my God. I don't know what to say. Yes!"

"Yes? Oh, awesome! Come down when you can, you guys need to talk about...I don't know...dresses, and stuff."

"Okay, Seth. Thanks. This really means a lot to me."

"It's no problem." Seth awkwardly kissed her on the cheek, and walked toward the door.

"Bye, Kathryn."

She waved at his retreating form.

"Goodbye, Seth."

* * *

_Bing bong_

"Coming!" Ryan walked to the door, and slowly opened it, for some reason fearing what could be on the other side.

"Hi, Ryan," Kathryn stood shyly in the doorway, holding a bag in each hand. Her hair was up, and she was wearing grey jeans, a khaki v-neck top, and a black velvet blazer. She had sunglasses perched on top of her head, which seemed to set off and unexplainable glamour.

"Kathryn," he breathed. "Are you here for the bridesmaid thing?"

"Oui," she smiled. "Would you mind if I came in to put these things," she looked at the bags, "down? I haven't stopped at my hotel yet, and these are _really_ heavy."

"Sure," Ryan felt annoyed at himself. How could he forget? "Here, I'll get this," he took one of the bags from her and helped her carry it to the poolhouse.

"Thanks...uh...is your mom around? Seth said I should talk to her about...you know, stuff."

"Yeah, I know, but she's not here right now. You wanna just...hang out?"

* * *

"God, how I've missed this," Kathryn sat in the Jacuzzi and felt the bubbles all around her..and the smell. "EW! Ryan!!" she splashed water at the accused farter.

"Ryan? I noticed bags in the poolhouse with women's clothes in them. I hope to _God_ that they're not yours, dude. Is Hailey here or something?" Seth walked out onto the patio.

"No, just me," Kathryn waved up a hand. "I'm going to go get changed, okay?" the two boys watched her make her way back to the poolhouse.

"Damn," Ryan breathed. "I forgot how hot she is."

"I know," Seth agreed. They looked at each other. "Look man, we both know that if we both go after her, she'll choose you again. Do we really want to ruin the "I have a hot friend" thing we have going for us?"

"Well...yes!" Ryan laughed. "But I understand you. Okay. So neither of us goes after her, okay?"

"Right."

Kathryn cam out of the poolhouse, wearing khaki jeans that were slightly flared at the bottom, and a red shirt that she had cut the sleeves and bottom off of, so it settled just above her nice inny belly-button. She had a skateboard tucked under one arm, and a baseball cap on her head, only just holding the mass of hair underneath. She turned to Seth:

"You ready?"


	2. It's Not All The Same

Kathryn got out her Ipod and put on "Such Great Heights" and started singing along.

"You like The Postal Service?"

"Seth, I like _everything_ that you like! Don't you remember?"

"Yeah, of course," Seth smiled mildly at himself. Jackass. How could he forget all the things that they had in common? Their graphic novel obsession, how they both loved Death Cab and sailing. She had completed Enter the Matrix, knew more than he did.

"Hey, isn't that Luke?"

Seth looked round, and noticed Luke and a couple of his buddies – he still hung out with his water-polo friends from high school.

"Yeah, it is. You wanna go hang out with them?"

"Sure! If that's okay..." she looked at Seth questioningly, as if to say, 'Are you ready to let me go?'. Seth wasn't quite sure if he was, but it wasn't as if he could stop her. She was already starting to walk over to Luke.

"Yeah, that's fine!" he called after her, hoping that she wouldn't hear the sarcasm in his voice. He caught up, and they walked over to the guy that had bullied him almost all his school career.

* * *

"Hi Luke!" Kathryn gave him a huge hug.

"Hey, man," Seth tried the aloof, cool approach. He just came off as the unaffectionate weirdo. Oh well.

"Kathryn! Seth," he hugged Kathryn back, and nodded to Seth in acknowledgement. Then he turned back to Kathryn. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to be the bridesmaid when Kirsten and Sandy renew their vows! Isn't it exciting?

"Sure is."

Seth could see Luke was eyeing Kathryn up, seeing not what Seth has seen when he had seen her – beauty and grace – but just a hot body. But maybe he was mistaken. He hoped so.

"Hey, Kathryn? I'm going to get a drink. You want anything?...apart from Luke," Seth muttered the last part under his breath, so he could be ready to give the heart-warming, but fake, smiled that always arrived when he was feeling awkward. He had thought, maybe, that things would be different this time. A couple of years back, when he had kissed her, she had kissed him back, only to pull away when she thought of Ryan.

"Sure, Seth! ? You want me to come with?"

That was _exactly_ what he wanted, but he couldn't say that, obviously, so he just contented himself with a shake of his head, and he started to walk away.

* * *

"_Stones taught me to fly love taught me to lie life taught me to die..._"

Kathryn kicked her feet, imagining she was a child again, sitting at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, when her father would take her. She watched little fish swim around her feet, and when they jumped out of the water, the tiny splash that came when they dived back in always wet her jeans a tiny bit, even though she had already rolled them up to stop them getting wet. She felt for a stone, a smooth, flat one, and when she found it, she threw it at the sea, and it skipped along...five, six, seven times, before sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

"_So it's not hard to fall when you float like a cannonball..._"

"Very clever."

"Same to you," Summer gestured toward the place where the stone had been.

"So...what are you doing here?"

"Same as you...reminiscing."

"Uh-huh...what about?"

"Marissa."

"Oh," Kathryn said, only after drawing in a deep breath. She had hoped the subject wouldn't come up so quickly. She brushed a piece of hair out of her eyes. She didn't know what to say to Summer, but there was no worry, because Summer started to talk anyway.

"I still miss her, you know?" Kathryn figured there was no need for a response – Summer just needed someone to listen. "For months after she died, I kept seeing her everywhere. It was like she was still here. I would lose a skirt, and be like 'Oh yeah, Marissa must have it,' but then I remembered that she didn't, that she wasn't here anymore."

"Do you...do you think about her still?"

"No...no, I don't let myself. Because if I start, then I have to remember calling the ambulance, waiting by her bedside...being told that she was gone. Gone for good," on the last sentence, Summer's voice started to shake, and by the end, she was flat out sobbing.

"I...I don't know. Marissa was special. There won't be another one. When I left after graduation, went back to New York, I thought it would be best. I could get back into my old life, meet with old friends, push everything that happened away. But every night a memory from this place crept back into my head, whether it was Seth, playing video games, or Ryan, always so damn serious, or you, on the day when I first met you in Marissa's car, or...or Marissa, lying in the hospital, or Marissa, screaming at me about Ryan, or Marissa, dealing with everything as it came. I missed it here so much!"

And Summer decided that she might believe her, because for the first time, Kathryn was crying too.

* * *

"Hey, Ryan."

"Hey, Summer...have you...have you been _crying?_"

"Oh, yeah," Summer wiped her eyes before another tear escaped. "I just had the most surreal conversation."

"Really? With who?"

"Kathryn! We just talked...for hours..."

"What about?"

"Marissa. This place. We just kinda reminisced."

"Huh." Ryan paused.

"Did you miss her?"

"Yeah."

"Really?" Summer thought. This was a slightly mean trick she was setting up. "Who? Marissa? Or Kathryn?"

"Both. I couldn't pick between them. They were so different. Marissa was the pretty, good-hearted, girl next door. Kathryn was – is - the unconventionally beautiful, wild, quirky girl who I could be myself with. And then they both were gone. It won't be the same without Marissa – it never could be. She was like the glue that held us all together. It's hard without her. I guess it always will be."

_Wow. I never knew Chino could be so sensitive. I guess I was wrong about him. Hmm...he looks hot in this light. Woah. Why am I finding Ryan hot? Maybe I should kiss him. Why? Hey, what harm could it do?_

Summer leaned in..._what am I doing?_...she couldn't help herself. She kissed Ryan. And he kissed her back.

"Ryan! I need to talk to you about..." Kathryn trailed off when she saw the pair, already semi-naked, writhing around on Ryan's bed, too busy to even notice her there. She turned and ran out, slamming the door behind her. She might be invisible, but the door was still capable of making a racket.

* * *

She stomped up the stairs and found Seth's bedroom. She kissed him, and then jumped on his bed.

"Come on, Seth," she pushed the words out of her mouth with great force. "Let's have sex."

She stripped down to her black lacy underwear, and lay in a provocative position on his bed.

Seth just stared in amazement. This was a dream come true. Ever since he had met the girl..._Damn._ He pulled off his shirt and pounced on her.

* * *

"Wow..." she moaned softly. This was better than she had imagined. She ran her hand up his back, round his neck, through his hair. "Oh, Seth..." the exhilaration was too much. She got up, dimmed the lights, got a condom from his drawer, and lost her mind in the crazy pleasures of Seth Cohen.


End file.
